Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy to ensure that (a) local development plans retain their primacy in law and can provide for local variations to National Development Management Policies where there is a local justification to do so and (b) changes to National Development Management Policies are subject to public consultation and parliamentary scrutiny.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
The Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill - currently being scrutinised in the other place - sets out the proposed legal basis for National Development Management Policies, including their consultation requirements. We are currently consulting on changes to national planning policy. The prospectus consults on a range of changes to national planning policy that are intended to introduce greater clarity on the circumstances in which local authorities can adjust the number of homes planned for to account for local circumstances. We will carefully analyse the responses to the consultation, and any subsequent changes in policy will be confirmed when the Framework is updated later in 2023.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department will take to prioritise development on brownfield land instead of on Green Belt and greenfield land.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question UIN 129970 on 31 January 2023.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of changes in the National Planning Policy Framework on the supply of new homes in Portsmouth South constituency.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
This Government is committed to accelerating housing delivery to make home buying a reality for a new generation. We want decisions about homes to be driven locally and we want to get more local plans in place to deliver the homes we need. That is why we remain committed to a 300k target and to retaining a clear starting point for calculating local housing needs, and we know the best way to get more homes is having more up-to-date local plans in place.
Analysis set out in the recently published impact assessment for the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill suggests that local authorities with up-to-date local plans have higher levels of housing supply compared to authorities with out-of-date local plans, or no plan at all. Our proposals in the National Planning Policy Framework consultation seek to encourage plan making, and for local planning authorities such as Portsmouth getting up-to-date plans in place is the best way to improve housing delivery and provide the homes to meet the needs of their communities.
The proposals in the consultation are not yet government policy. We will carefully analyse the responses to the consultation, and any subsequent changes in policy will be confirmed when the Framework is updated later in 2023.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent progress he has made on cladding and non-cladding remediation for residential buildings in Portsmouth South constituency.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
As at 31 January 2023, a total of 10 residential buildings over 18 metres in height in the constituency of Portsmouth South have been identified as having unsafe Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) cladding or have been deemed eligible for the Building Safety Fund due to the presence of unsafe non-ACM cladding.
Remediation work has started or been completed on 6 of these buildings.
We will continue to work to improve buildings with cladding issues across the country over the coming months.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps he is taking to increase the provision of social rented housing in Portsmouth South constituency.
Answered by Rachel Maclean
This Government is committed to the continued provision of affordable housing, which is why we are investing £11.5 billion through our Affordable Homes Programme to deliver tens of thousands of homes across the country.
The department's Levelling-up White Paper outlined our intention to increase the volume of Social Rented accommodation, and the Affordable Homes Programme will respond to this aim by increasing the volume of Social Rent homes delivered through the Programme.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many and what proportion of (a) private and (b) public sector orphan buildings have EWS1 forms in (i) Portsmouth and (ii) England.
Answered by Lee Rowley - Minister of State (Minister for Housing)
An EWS1 form is not a statutory or regulatory requirement and the requirement for, and use of EWS1 forms, is determined by the lending policies of banks and building societies. The Government does not hold a database of EWS1 forms. EWS1 forms completed by registered assessors can be viewed on the Fire Industry Association's Building Safety Information Portal here.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how his Department will work with the maritime sector to refocus the Investment Zones programme.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Further to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, Investment Zones are being refocused to catalyse a number of the highest potential knowledge intensive growth clusters to boost productivity, growth and job creation. These will be based around the Chancellor's five priority sectors.
We will work closely with Mayors, the Devolved Administrations, local authorities, businesses, and other local partners.
I recently met with Maritime UK, and look forward to further engagement as this policy develops.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what plans he has to set out more detail on his Department’s proposals for supporting knowledge-intensive clusters to drive economic growth, as announced in the Autumn statement.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Further to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, Investment Zones are being refocused to catalyse a number of the highest potential knowledge intensive growth clusters to boost productivity, growth and job creation. These will be based around the Chancellor's five priority sectors.
We will work closely with Mayors, the Devolved Administrations, local authorities, businesses, and other local partners.
I recently met with Maritime UK, and look forward to further engagement as this policy develops.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he will meet with Maritime UK to discuss the recommendations in the Coastal Powerhouse Manifesto on planning reform.
Answered by Dehenna Davison
Further to the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, Investment Zones are being refocused to catalyse a number of the highest potential knowledge intensive growth clusters to boost productivity, growth and job creation. These will be based around the Chancellor's five priority sectors.
We will work closely with Mayors, the Devolved Administrations, local authorities, businesses, and other local partners.
I recently met with Maritime UK, and look forward to further engagement as this policy develops.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if it is his policy to bring forward reforms to leasehold in this Parliament.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question UIN 75940, on 9 November 2022.